Council approves Axon portal for public file sharing tied to body-camera program

The Glendale Common Council approved a multi-year agreement with Axon Enterprises to add a community-request file-sharing portal to the city’s Axon digital-evidence system.

The police chief told the council the department switched to Axon body cameras, squad cameras and interview-room recording last year and used a 60-day trial of Axon’s public-portal capability. The portal allows members of the public to submit video to a secure evidence library and lets the department post footage to an online portal instead of relying on physical media.

The chief said the trial had been ‘‘very successful.’’ The department currently has 25 body cameras on the contract; speakers explained the portal eliminates the need for officers to handle physical flash drives and to inventory and store hard copies of evidence in many cases.

The chief described a recurring-cost figure in staff remarks as ‘‘$3007.75.15 over the 57 months’’; the meeting record transcribes the number in that way and did not include a clarified dollar amount in the discussion. The council approved the agreement on a voice vote (motion by Alder Dougherty; second by Alder Vukovich).

Why it matters: The portal standardizes how the public and officers contribute digital evidence, reduces handling of physical media and streams evidence directly into the department's digital-evidence library. The department said this will save officer time spent cataloguing and storing physical media.

Next steps: Staff will finalize the multiyear agreement and integrate the portal with the city’s Axon deployment.